THE FLORIDA MEDICAID DEBACLE CONTINUES

Thanks to Ed at the Panama City-based blog Ironknee for making note of one of the more harmful effects of Florida's Medicaid "reform". It mentions a statement from the Website of the American Psychiatric Association on behalf of the president of the Florida Psychiatric Society and the APA's medical director warning that the state's enactment of new Medicaid legislation puts people with mental illness at serious risk.

Read this carefully (emphasis mine):

The unprecedented and most harmful aspect of the law is a requirement that -- each year -- a patient must first fail on the cheapest mandated medications before the patient is given access to the medication his or her physician believes is optimal, even where the patient has been successfully treated with the physician-chosen medication.

Talk about dangerous...and this is only one part of the so-called "reform". Think about what this and other changes may mean for the rest of us!

Thanks again, Ed, for bringing it to our attention. Now if your area's legislator --- House Speaker and possible U.S. Senate candidate Allan Bense --- would listen!